Machine for brushing knitted fabrics



June 5, 1934. F, D OAKES 1,961,939

MACHINE FOR BRUSHING KNITTED FABRICS Filed April 19, 1932 Z j? Z IL I Patented June 5, 1934 wmuwm MAGHNE FOR BRUSHING KNITTED FABRICS Fulton D. Oakes, Scituate, Mass.

Application April 19,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the finishing of knitted fabric by means of a brushing operation which serves to raise the textile fibers on the surface of the fabric to produce the desired nap.

Heretofore it has been the practice to lay the knitted tube, taken oif from the knitting machine, at on the table of a brushing machine and then pass the flat web of knitted fabric beneath a revolving brush cylinder, whose bristles act against the uppermost face of the flattened tube while the fabric is supported on the table. Not only is that treatment relatively slow, adding materially to the cost, but it is inapplicable to a plain single stitch fabric because it does not produce a satisfactory nap on such a fabric and is commonly used only for ribbed fabricsa My present invention is intended to effect large economies in the cost of nishing knitted goods by providing means for raising a nap that will dispense with special and additional handling and extra manual operations, while at the same time producing a superior quality of finish on either ribbed or single stitch fabric.

To this end the invention embraces a revoluble annular brush arranged to have its bristles form nap-raising contact with a tubular knitted fabric which is supported and fed axially of the revoluble ring, so that successive courses of stitches are brought into contact with the rows of brush bristles which accordingly exert a brushing action in a circumferential direction, that is, in the direction of the courses of stitches. This principle of operation makes it possible to do the brushing of the tubular fabric, while it '3' is being delivered by the knitting machine, without removing it from the knitting machine, thereby involving no additional handling of the fabric and no manual presentation of the brush to the fabric or of the fabric to the brush. As it requires no eXtra attendance on the knitting machine and does not interfere with the proper operation of the knitting machine itself, it will be seen that very large economies are effected since the knitting machine without extra cost, except for the very slight additional power, which is negligible, delivers a knitted and napped fabric as readily as it will deliver a knitted and unnapped fabric. These and other features of the invention will be particularly described in 50 the following specification and will be dened in the claims hereto annexed.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a simple, convenient and practical means for utilizing the principles of this invention, in which 1932, serial No. 606,165

(o1. 6em-147) Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, showing such parte of well known type of knitting machine as are directly related to this invention in association with my improved brushing or nap-raising device.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the parts shown in Fig. l, the brush ring being partly broken away on one side to show its underneath support.

According to the form of the invention illustrated in the drawing, the knitting machine table 1 is supported upon a suitable frame work embracing legs or standards 2 and has projecting from one side the driving shaft 3, which rotates the usual cam ring to actuate the needles,

neither cam ring nor needles being shown since they are common and well known parts of circular knitting machine construction.

The usual center pin or post 5 projects down from the center of the table and carries at its lower end the usual frusto-conical spreader l2. The center pin 5 is provided with two spaced collars 14, the upper of which supports a disc l5, While the lower collar supports the lower disc 16. These discs may be made of wood or any other suitable material and are dimensioned to somewhat distend the tubular fabric that is being knitted by the knitting machine.

On a supporting horizontal skeleton table or frame, comprising longitudinal bars 10, transverse bars 10a which are suspended from the table by suspension rods 11, is secured an annular supporting plate 6 which is preferably provided with an annular gro-ove or track channel 6e. Revolubly mounted on this supporting member 6 is a ring '7, which is provided with a flanged or offset toothed member 8 having gear teeth on its under side adapted to intel-mesh with a pinion 9 fast on a shaft 9a, which is driven by a belt or other driving connection with the actuating shaft 3 of the knitting machine, preferably inside of the fast and loose pulleys 4, 4a on shaft 3.

On the interior annular face of the ring 7 is mounted an annular strip of card clothing, whose bristles or points are preferably straight. This card clothing or brush 1'7 may be secured to the cylindrical surface ofthe ring 7 in any suitable way, as by small anchoring pins. The brush is located to travel in a circular path intermediate of the fabric supporting discs 15 and 16 and is dimensioned so that its interior diameter is slightly less than the exterior diameter of the guiding supports 15, 16. A downwardly projecting rib la on the brush ring 7 serves to maintain the ring in proper relationship against lateral displacement.

The fabric at is supported by the two discs 15 and 16 so as to afford a somewhat yielding but elastic contact with the bristles, which is decidedly advantageous in producing a superior nap as compared with the previous method of brushing the fabric in iiat condition while it is supported on a hard unyielding table. Furthermore, the brushing is more eifective and more uniform by reason of the fact that the bristles are travelling in the direction of the course of the stitches and maintain a uniform pressure or tension against the fabric throughout the whole circumference of the brush. For these reasons, an exceedingly fine and uniform quality of nap is produced and such a nap can be produced either on ribbed goods or on single stitched goods, which heretofore have offered much difficulty when presented to napping brushes.

As the circumferential rows of stitches are successively produced in the knitting machine according to the well known practice, the fabric is delivered downward in tubular form. it being fed downward under the pull of the usual weights or sinkers hooked into the fabric below the spreader or by any suitable means for keeping the fabric under a downward tension.

The nap-raising action of the revolving brush may be increased either by speeding up the number of revolutions of the brush by appropriate change of belt pulleys, or by increasing the width in an axial direction of the brush member or card clothing so that each course of stitches entering the brush Zone may be subjected to a longer period of brushing as it descends through the brush ring.

What I claim is:

l. The combination with means for knitting and delivering a tubular fabric, of axially arranged spaced circular guides interiorly engaging and supporting said tubular fabric, and a revoluble exterior napping brush surrounding the tubular fabric intermediate of said guides, and exerting a uniform frictional pressure against the yieldingly supported subtending annular portion of the tubular fabric and means for rotating said brush around the circumference of said fabric to raise a nap thereon.

2. The combination with a knitting machine adapted to knit and deliver fabric in tubular form, a central pin projecting downwardly from said knitting machine and provided with circular spaced guides affording supporting engagement with the interior of the fabric, a revoluble ring mounted externally of the tubular fabric intermediate of said guides, means for revolubly supporting said ring, card clothing secured to an interior surface of said ring in position to engage and brush againt the circumferential courses of stitches, and means for rotating said ring.

3. A combined knitting and napping machine embracing means for knitting and delivering a tubular fabric, a horizontal revoluble brush ring provided with an annular series of gear teeth, means for supporting said brush ring, a counter shaft driven from the actuating shaft of the knitting machine and having a pinion interrneshing with and driving with the teeth on said brush ring, and an annular wire bristle brush secured to an interior face of said brush ring in position to have its bristles engage and brush the interiorly disposed tubular fabric.

FULTON D. OAKES. 

